Ed Wiley, Jr. - 'Texas Tenor' Legacy

'Texas Tenor' Legacy

Wiley is among a long lineage of “Texas tenor” reedmen, known for their bold, bluesy, and often boisterous way of blowing. They included such saxophone legends as James Clay, Arnett Cobb, King Curtis, Booker Ervin, Illinois Jacquet, David "Fathead" Newman, Buddy Tate and Donald Wilkerson. There were also several other horn players – such as Chicagoan Gene Ammons, Floridian Willis Jackson and Missourian Lester Young – who share the Texas tenor pedigree because of their sound rather than their hometown.

The monthly “Cadence Review of Jazz & Blues: Creative Improvised Music” writes that Wiley has an “appreciation of the classic ‘Texas tenor’ sound of people such as Arnett Cobb and Illinois Jacquet. But his sound is more polished and urbane compared with those past masters; it’ big and soulful, but never overbearing.”

"The Texas tenor sound was an aggressive approach to whatever type of tune you were doing," Wiley told American Music Center writer Eugene Holley in a 1995 interview. "It’s a big sound, and soulful as can be. You had tenor players from that area, and you grew up hearing that sound. …I played the carnival circuit. They had what you call tent shows before the main show, and the band would play in what they called the ‘valley,’ to get the people in the crowd interested enough to come into the tent. There were no microphones out there, and you had to really dig down deep in your horn and get some volume. So it strengthened your chops and you were used to that big, full sound. When I was coming up in high school, I played in the marching bands on the football field, and you got strong doing that too."